wathe
-
Posts
3,272 -
Joined
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by wathe
-
-
Thanks all. It still seems weird to me that the White House wouldn't look after its own people. I clearly have a poor understanding of American health insurance.
-
1
-
-
I didn't realize that government employee health insurance would only pay for part of hospitalization expenses - I assumed it would pay for all. Thanks for setting me straight.
Here, hospitalization is paid for 100% by the state for everyone*. The only things I would pay for out-of-pocket would be "upgrades" - parking, in-room entertainment unit/TV, upgrade to private room etc. Doctor's fees are also paid for by the state 100%, including outpatient/office doctor's bills (except some very few things deemed not medically necessary, like cosmetic surgery, are billed privately). I would never even get a bill.
We don't have universal pharmacare in my province (out of hospital) or allied health (physio, dental). Plans for those expenses are often provided by employers, or paid out of pocket. They are paid for by the state for over age 65, children under 25 without private insurance, those on disability and on social assistance.
*Canadians who've lived in-province for at least 3 months
ETA - I do pay an awful lot in taxes, though.
-
2
-
-
10 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:
I have no idea what type of insurance he has, but anyone can have a GoFundMe. There will be a deductible- maybe low, maybe high. Possibly a co-pay until a maximum out of pocket amount. It could also be for non-medical expenses, loss of work, a spouse's time off, ect. I would assume that he has good insurance as a federal employee, and that its just a way to show support and for other non-medical expenses.
Understood - but the gofundme specifically states "staggering medical bills", and that's the bit that's left me wondering.
-
I'll add that I know that a lot of Americans are uninsured or under-insured. But a White House director? It feels like it doesn't add up and that I'm missing something.
My Canadian family members who work for government have kick-a$$ supplementary insurance plans through their employment (in addition to their publicly funded universal healthcare insurance).
-
American boardies, please help me make sense of this - it has left me scratching my head. Reported in NYT today (excerpt), "Crede Bailey, the director of the White House security office who was hospitalized for months with the coronavirus, had his foot and the lower part of one of his legs amputated as he battled the infection, a friend of his wrote on a GoFundMe page dedicated to his medical bills."
I know that health insurance is often linked to employment in the US. But does this case make any sense? Why would a director of the White House security office need a gofundme to pay for medical expenses? Surely a White House security office director should have insurance through his employer? Am I missing something here?
-
Boardgamegeek suggests 5+. I find that suggested ages on games tend to skew older than necessary - we pretty much ignore them. (Maybe it's a kind of aspirational marketing to make younger kids feel more grown up?)
If you are worried, watch a review to get a better idea if it will be a good fit.
-
1
-
-
It'll be fine for the 6 year-old.
-
3 minutes ago, kand said:
I didn’t know this—that Hep B was not much risk to an adult and most adults clear it from their system without negative effect. If that’s the case, why is it one of the vaccines required for health care providers? Is that so they don’t pass it to a young patient, rather than to protect the health care provider from their patients? Or is it to protect those people who won’t be among those who clear it without issue? I had to have it college due to being in a health field, and I assumed it was to protect me.
It's primarily to protect the HCW. It also protects patients. Most adults do clear it. But even if a small percentage don't clear it, it's still a lot of cases that would otherwise have been almost completely preventable with vaccine. She quotes that 95% of those exposed do not develop an infection. That means 5% do, and that's actually quite high (the risk of developing an HIV infection from a known positive medical needle-stick exposure is roughly 0.3%, by comparison, (without post-exposure prophylaxis)). The other issue with Hep B is that up to 50% of those who do go on to develop chronic Hep B don't have a history of acute hepatitis - they didn't know they had it.
The numbers I've seen suggest that for acute hepatitis B, 70% of those infected are sub-clinical, and 30% develop icteric hepatitis (jaundice). No, thanks - I'll take the shot.
-
3
-
-
Our old dog used to drop the treat ball down the stairs to get the treats out without having to work for them. He was a smartie.
-
3
-
2
-
-
Whether or not universal Hep B vaccination in infancy makes sense depends on whether one is looking at immunization from an individual protection point of view, or a public health point of view.
Hep B immunization in infancy probably won't make much difference for a low risk baby in a low risk family (both parents negative, well educated, stable family life - plus all the usual other social determinants of health), but can make a huge difference for higher risk babies. Universal, routine immunization ensures that the highest proportion possible of higher risk babies are protected - as the highest risk families tend to be the ones that fall through the cracks, and universal programs shrink the cracks, so to speak.
Both PP's are right, in that Hep B is transmitted by blood and bodily fluids, and can survive outside the body for days. But it's also true that most Hep B is spread by sexual contact (bodily fluid exchange) and needle sharing (blood). But, if mother is infected, mother to child transmission rate is really high (90%), and father to child is also relatively high (as high as 65%). Whether or not universal infant hep B immunization make sense from a public health point of view depends on the prevalence in the population, I think. Most mothers are diligent with prenatal care, but a significant number aren't, and those at highest risk of Hep B are among those that are less likely get high quality prenatal and antenatal care. I don't think that there is any question that universal Hep B immunization in infancy prevents childhood Hep B at population level. The calculus is how many cases, at what cost.
It's not given routinely until age 12 in my province, unless there are risk factors, and there is controversy about that. Other provinces provide it universally it in infancy. We had our kids immunized against hep B as young children (and paid for it out of pocket) because we planned to travel - we did both hep A and B at the same time.
Edited - to add missing words in fist sentence - makes more sense now!
-
3
-
4
-
-
22 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:
I encourage you to read “And The Ladies Of The Club”. It’s a fantastic historical novel, and among other things it describes some of these illnesses that were almost eradicated by vaccines. I found it to provide helpful information in making up my mind, when Mothering Magazine and other local sources were very anti vax.
This post made me want to comment further on "Your Child's Best Shot". It's chock a block full of info, including the historical burden of each disease covered. Those sections were eye-opening for me.
It also covers the current incidence of each disease, pathophysiology, how the vaccine is made (and what it's made from) and how it's tested, how it's given, its efficacy, and risks (including the very rare ones, with numerical data). It's really a very thorough treatment of the topic, with lots of data. I love data - very helpful for decision making.
-
3
-
-
The Canadian Pediatric Society has oodles of immunization information. Their book, "Your Child's Best Shot", is particularly good.
I agree with pp that CDC advice is standard of care in the USA.
If by "moderate", you mean alternative to standard of care, then I disagree about your use of the term moderate.
-
5
-
-
7 hours ago, kristin0713 said:
Umm, where do you live that there are pythons?
4 hours ago, Bambam said:I'm wondering if the python was a pet too?
I'm quite sure Bookbard is in Australia. I think wild diamond pythons are common where she is.
-
1
-
-
8 minutes ago, Corraleno said:
I think there is also an assumption that prioritizing "essential workers" will benefit the economy more than keeping a bunch of elderly and/or unhealthy people alive. Vaccinating the 1.4 million nursing home residents in the first group should cause a significant drop in the death rate, which will encourage people to feel like the pandemic is almost over and go back to life as usual. So the next priority is protecting the supply chain by vaccinating meat processors and delivery drivers and grocery workers, etc., while the 50 million people 65 and older just isolate at home and wait their turn. That's my somewhat cynical take on it anyway.
I think you are probably right.
-
1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:
We got a game called Concept we really enjoy playing.
We split up into two teams -- but honestly its just fun trying to figure out how to get the concept across and trying to guess the concept being illustrated.
We really like that one too. We don't bother with points or winning. I agree that just trying to figure out how to get the concept across is really fun.
-
2
-
-
-
3
-
-
38 minutes ago, Corraleno said:
Plague is also transmitted directly from person to person.
That's really rare though (to the point that human to human transmission by aerosols remains controversial), and low pandemic potential - primary pneumonic plague ((plague acquired by inhaling aerosols from an infected animal or human) victims get sick fast, and die fast. Plague is almost always spread by fleas, and most pneumonic plague cases are secondary (spread to the lungs inside one's own body after being bitten by and infected flea).
-
1
-
-
On 12/10/2020 at 2:16 PM, rebcoola said:
Our newest game that we are giving everyone is Poetry for neanderthals. A guessing game where you can't use any words with more than one syllable or you get bonked on the head with an inflatable club.
My kids will love this. Thanks!
-
1
-
-
10 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:
Well true although I always learned that people throwing rubbish in the streets meant more rats and more fleas so arguably human behaviour was a factor. But my knowledge of that is not in depth, so I may be wrong.
Plague is a good example of human behaviour (or rather human social conditions) causing pandemics*, I think. Squalor and crowded conditions -> more rats -> more fleas -> more plague. And the rats traveled by ship. Conditions at the time were ripe for plague to take-off in human populations. Plague is still out there, but will never likely be pandemic again because of changes in human factors (sanitation, less crowding being the most important, and also knowledge/antibiotics, of course). The disease hasn't changed. The vectors haven't changed either; rats and fleas are the same as they ever were.
Even the mosquito borne diseases like Zika and WNV have human factors. Zika, climate change. West Nile, airplanes.
Though I suppose historical plague was epidemic - I don't think it was truly world-wide.
-
3
-
-
12 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:
Yes, I know 🙂. But I wonder if that’s partially because we take severity into account as well as range? Truth be told, I don’t think there IS a single standard definition of a pandemic...
I think a bit of a continuum, I think - the edges are blurred. But I think the key features for a pandemic are novel strain, more people sick, sicker than usual, and world-wide.
Maybe I'm wrong though. Something that's not new, but previously obscure, might go pandemic (I'm thinking like Ebola) maybe?
-
1
-
-
34 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:
Depends how you define a pandemic. For example, here’s one plausible definition:
A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”. The classical definition includes nothing about population immunity, virology or disease severity.
By that definition, the flu causes pandemics. You could argue that’s not the RIGHT definition, but what is the right definition?
I always understood endemic to mean that a disease occurs at a baseline level in a particular region, and is restricted to that region. Implying that there are other regions that don't have the disease (eta don;t have the disease in a sustained way, not that there are never cases). Ie malaria is endemic to the tropics. No such thing as world-wide endemic anything - that would be self-contradictory.
Pandemic flu is generally understood to be a new strain that spreads world-wide, and makes more people sicker than usual seasonal flu. H1N1 of 2009 is an example. Usual seasonal flu is not generally described as pandemic.
I think part of the definition of pandemic has to include the idea of a new or novel pathogen (ETA or strain) that spreads world-wide. For example, AIDS was classed as pandemic (it was new and novel), but now WHO calls it epidemic (it's not new anymore). The numbers of global cases aren't better than they've been in the past, I don't think, but they have become somewhat more stable over time, I think. (I am do not have data to support this, this is my impression only)
-
1
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:
What something is supposed to be, and what it actually looks like can be two different things. Not everyone thinks things through. There are many of those types of things on the internet.
Seattle put a trolly in an area they are redeveloping. Initially they called it the "south lake union trolley". . . . . It wasn't very long before someone came out with "Ride the S.L.U.T." T-shirts.
And seattle city gov't started screaming that wasn't its name . . . .
Eta: I'm hoping it was unintentional - it does happen. So does intentional (there was a news story on one particularly hostile neighbor who did a more graphic one -deliberately. )
Or the BC Ferries' masks are mandatory signs, "The graphic (ahem) design is meant to illustrate the side of a person's head with a mask looped around the ear. But a closer look reveals a striking resemblance to one of the more intimate aspects of the male anatomy."
-
3
-
-
21 minutes ago, maize said:
I use disposable masks plus a strip of fashion tape if the nose fit isn't tight; works well for my 8 year old.
Not the type of tape I have but similar:
I use a strip of medical tape across the nose at work. Ugly, but works really well.
-
1
-
-
45 minutes ago, kand said:
Thank you for sharing this information back, as I have been interested to know the details. I have found all the focus on N95 filtration over fit to be a little frustrating. Obviously, N95 with a great fit is the ideal, but a well sealed mask is going to be more effective than a high filtration mask with gaps.
Yes, it is frustrating. That, and the tendency to conflate N95 standards with filtration only. N95 is a respirator standard, as in a standard for the whole device, and involves more than just filtration. The standard also specifies head-straps with a particular strength, adjustable nasal splints, flow rate, inhalation/exhalation resistance etc. There is no such thing as an N95 filter or a N95 fabric, for example. (venting here a little, not talking at you, kand)
-
1
-
US healthcare/insurance question
in The Chat Board
Posted · Edited by wathe
Another concept that's different. No "networks". Or, the whole province is my network, I guess. It all sounds very complicated. And stressful!